Field of the Application
The application generally relates to User Equipment (UE) information confidentiality, and more particularly, to apparatuses and methods for avoiding location exposure.
Description of the Related Art
With growing demand for ubiquitous computing and networking, various wireless technologies have been developed, including the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technology, Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000) 1x technology, Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) technology, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology, Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, Time-Division LTE (TD-LTE) technology, and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technology, etc.
Take the LTE technology as an example: according to release 13 of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 36.331, a Measurement Report message and a UE Information Response message may be sent unprotected before the Radio Resource Control (RRC) security is activated. Specifically, the Measurement Report message and the UE Information Response message may each include location information relating to the UE, and having these two messages sent out unprotected may lead to the risk of information leakage. For example, these two messages may be passively captured in the air by any interested parties, including malicious attackers, and the location information therein may be used to derive the user's position. Thus, it is desirable to improve UE's processing of unprotected messages which may include location information, thereby avoiding location exposure on insecure communications.